[Pferdestarke]

Originally Posted by cs_rajesh

Speed bumps can be the killers for highway vehicles again.

Not for those who follow sign boards.

Originally Posted by cs_rajesh

Ideally as mentioned by other fellow bhpians, there should be traffic signals

How feasible would that be to have traffic lights at every intersection we encounter on highways? And that doesn't simply work like that, every signal light entails a cop to make the folks oblige them which ain't so simple.

Originally Posted by cs_rajesh

I have seen bangalore-coimbatore highway having many speed limit signs and lower speed limits while just approaching junctions (such as village crossings) and that is quite clearly helpful and if one follows them rigorously, one can anticipate surprising crossings like what we see here.

Following road signs (provided they are well sorted) is the key to a safe and hassle free journey IMHO.

Originally Posted by prasadee

What is needed is education about right of way especially when a small side road intersects a highway. A cultural shift where people feel it is OK to wait for their turn. Live and let live. Treat others the way they like to be treated on the road (and in life)

That, my friend is seriously the need of the hour. I would like to bring up this quote by Madam Martha Washington here “The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.”

[fang]

I saw this video being shared on Facebook a couple of days ago, and some of the collisions left me cringing, both because of the damage to life and property and the devil-may-care attitude displayed by these fearless drivers and riders.

BTW, has anyone been able to ID this intersection?

[torque!!]

I can’t not yet decide whether to call those events accidents or sucides. I may sound insensitive but you really deserve to die or get seriously hurt if you drive like that. Can we ban bikes on highways?

[Amogh Barakol]

Horrible , Just horrbile ! Hats of to the man who designed the intersection ! And to those who care little for their or any other persons life . If we would just take a moment to realize what the consequences of each move we make on the road could be , everyone would be too scared to drive . It takes a light head and a heavy foot to raise hell , it takes courage to drive. What i have noticed is that many people are too ignorant to think about their and other peoples safety ! Daredevil speeds on the highway AND in the city too , what are people trying to prove ? That their Sedan can outrun the hatchback that just passed by ?
I can attach a big reason behind this arrogance , its because of our administrators .Yes , the traffic police . In my city , when i took the so-called-drivers-test , it was a waste of time ! They made me drive in a straight line and come back the same way after having taken a turn in the middle of the road (empty road). Is that what you call testing ???? It's time everyone took responsibility for their actions and drove safer . These accidents CAN be avoided .

[indianvirus]

Damn, that was a scary video, that clearly shows how carelessly and impatiently we drive/ride. Just waiting for the other vehicle to pass by would have prevented 80% of those crashes.
I was into this "me-first" kind of crash myself, when a idiot driving a alto tried the maneuver (when rest of the traffic on his side was stopped) and ended up on my driver door.

I feel some part of this chaos might have to do with junction design or road signs, etc. But major part of this has to do with our attitude.

[Amogh Barakol]

Originally Posted by torque!!

I can’t not yet decide whether to call those events accidents or sucides. I may sound insensitive but you really deserve to die or get seriously hurt if you drive like that. Can we ban bikes on highways?

I don't think the Biking community on our forum would be too happy with that . There are some pretty responsible riders out there , but they aren't the ones who get splattered across the blacktop .

[terra85]

Such Intersections should be totally avoided and an exit and underpass provided on each side. It may shoot up the costs, but just making vehicles safer is not the only solution for safety and road design is something hardly anyone speaks about . How can the road authorities approve such an intersection.

[Pferdestarke]

Originally Posted by fang

Has anyone been able to ID this intersection?

This intersection is on NH7 somewhere near Shadnagar, Mahabubnagar district, A.P. Here is the location of that intersection on Google maps. There are flashers at the junction blinking day and night and no one appeared to give a damn about them. It’s sheer lack of prudence that took so many lives away. This intersection seriously needs some precautionaries, be it traffic lights or speed humps. And I just mailed NHAI Hyderabd PIU director Mr.Ramesh Reddy the link to this video and requested him to take imperative measures. Lets hope they will!

[shashank.nk]

That is one scary video. A lot of the cars and UV's were clearly over-speeding at that intersection. From my experience,the number of overs-speeding vehicles is far higher in the day than at night.It must be because of overconfidence that i can "see" clearly.

A few weeks ago I was returning back from Tirupati and reached Mulbagal at around 12.30 Pm from where the 4 laned road to bangalore begins.
I don't recollect overtaking a single car on that stretch,only bikes and a few goods vehicles. Hatchbacks,Sedans,SUV's,MUV's,Crossovers all went by me as though I was standing still,and I look at my speedo which reads 110 km/hr.

The day people realize that our highways and also majority drivers aren't safe at such speeds, we may see lesser accidents.

[Vikki@Hyderabad]

Watched the first three minutes of the video. I think, in every case, it's pure negligence and lack of respect for other vehicles on the road. Some learn after surviving such an experience, and some are not as lucky, and some choose to be ignorant because they just watched a video.

One of the junctions is on NH7, a deviation to Shadnagar. I frequent this road every time I travel to Bangalore. It is right in the middle of a curve and it becomes too difficult to judge whether a vehicle is going to turn there or keep going straight, especially in the night, and I exercise extreme caution on this road. Utter carelessness, lack of commonsense and respect for other vehicles on the road. Pity that we always say "Yeh India hai, India" and keep moving on. You stop at a red signal in the night and everyone thinks you're a complete idiot, and some big vehicles even intimidate you.

One lesson that this video does make sure it teaches us is that drive your vehicles at a safe speed irrespective of whether it's the highway or the city.

[rageshgr]

What did I watch? It sent me chills down my spine. Especially the tractor whose driver bolted after the Innova went into the ditches.

Many things are evident:

1. People are too used to crossing normal city roads and are completely unable to judge the width of the highway and speed of the on coming vechicles
2. The on coming traffic is too fast, not slowing down for the intersection
3. Probably bad design and lack of appropriate signals and signs
4. The oncoming traffic taking turns out of the highway is trying to exit the highway at a very high speed without looking and being cautious

I think the highway traffic is too carried away by the fast highway and the crossing people are too impatient and they want to cross the highway and want to get it over with

[venkyhere]

scary indeed.

I don't think any vehicle planning to get onto the highway or get off the highway indicated with blinkers the intention of motion 'BEFORE' executing the turn (probably one lorry did, but a stupid biker in the blind spot of the lorry wanted to go straight at the intersection, but went straight to hell).

The simplicity of :
- announcing your intention of motion very well in advance - indicators / hand-signals
- common sense or even pure survival instinct should make a driver wait, until he makes sure high speed traffic has passed by, before making the turn.
could have saved many lives.

From the perspective of the high speed drivers on the 4L in the video :
- being on the sweeper curve, there is loss of perspective in differentiating vehicles on the opposite 2L which are 'coming directly onto my lane' v/s 'proceeding straight' . A speeding car on the rightmost lane approaching a left hander as shown in the video, cannot easily judge an opposite lorry/bus trying to take right because making out the 'cut' in the divider is not easy. It is further aggravated by the refusal of vehicles to 'indicate' BEFORE taking the turn.

Clearly a case of bad design ; but an even bigger case of overconfidence by people behind wheels.

[prakhar1998]

These accidents are hard to believe and digest. It is as if these truck drivers deliberately indulge in these acts.

A 10 second wait at a junction is something they cannot perform. It is impossible for humans to be so less alert. I believe, in most of these accidents, alcohol was involved. What was intriguing was how the bikers think they will be able to accelerate in the millisecond gap, and turn out to be winners.

There is something very wrong with the driving style of our country, why are the people here so intrepid? Even trucks for that instance think that they will be able to cross in the millisecond gap, instead of just waiting. T

here is no other solution to this, other than strengthening the Licence obtaining procedure. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can pay a meagre bribe and obtain a Drivers licence. What these fools forget is that not only are they risking their own lives, they are putting the lives of others in risk too. It is just reckless and outright stupid!

[Joe M]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

More than half of those accidents look like they were really trying to cheat death. I mean what on earth do people think before crossing an intersection. The ones going straight always have the right of way. Period. The people taking a turn need to atleast stop and check for vehicles before proceeding. Such useless loss of life and time.

I've always wanted to tell this aloud, but who's convincing the drivers here. In our country, learning to drive is just about learning how to handle the A B & C pedals to move the vehicle forward or backward. But nobody teaches in driving schools also, that this is just the ABC of driving.

Keeping an intersection at a curve is stupid. It is design fault. But almost all - no let me say all- of these accidents could be avoided with a little care from the drivers. Nobody is ready to wait even for a few seconds. Actually I felt more pity towards the innocent people who are going through the highway straight. Yes, there is a blinking traffic light and indication for intersection and they should go slow there. But any driver would expect a minimum common sense from other drivers too.

[saviouravenger]

Originally Posted by Gotham_City

Saw this video compiling accidents on some highway in India.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=2&theater

This freaked me out completely. Barring a few cases where visibility of the turn was blocked, everyone else looked like on a suicide mission. If this is how we drive, I am sure India will never leave the pole position in accident deaths.

Part of the blame also lies with the design. Must say, it takes a real dimwit designer to plan an intersection bang in the middle of a curve.

Most of the vehicles at fault in this video were RTC Buses, Lorries & 2 wheelers. The authorities should be very vigilant whilst considering license applications for these categories.

In general they should only approve a license if the applicant exhibits a thorough understanding of traffic rules, road sense and common sense along with the other prerequisites - most licenses are currently approved if the applicant exhibits satisfactory driving skills and is able to identify common Traffic Signs.

This adds a lot of unexperienced/ignorant drivers to our already substantial vehicular traffic. Even if most of them are cautious, mishaps like the ones shown in the video are likely to occur in a few cases. The sad result is that there would always be one or more other parties involved in most accidents who were not at fault but still end up getting injured or worse.

If one watches the Video carefully, in most cases, the other vehicle involved in the accident was also partially at fault. If they had slowed down at the intersections or were a bit cautious by expecting the other road users to be unpredictable, some of these accidents could have perhaps been avoided.

Each one of us have the responsibility to do our bit to educate fellow drivers when we see they are careless or are not aware of the right way to behave on the road.